Singles

In this Saeculum we've gone from single pop songs in the 50s, to huge rock operas taking 4 vinyl sides, then back around to single digital tunes. Maybe the 4T is just too much to keep track of bigger chunks of music.

Hmm... "Fanfare for the Common Man," which is pretty close to a "single" in classical music (right down to its 3-minute length) was composed by Copland in 1942, in the middle of the war.

Then again, maybe it's that the 2T is the only time with ideas big enough to support that much unified and organized music. Was the Ring cycle done during the Progressive era? I think it might have been. If so, we can expect that singles will be the way music is consumed for another 40 years, at which time someone will figure out a way to package digital music into a form that requires an hour of steady listening.

Grrls

My previous post about Russia included a reference to "young women" protesting the cozy relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Putin regime. That was almost certainly about Pussy Riot, recently sentenced to two years in prison for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred." Which (confirmation bias acknowledged) is a reinforcement of the Awakening beginning there.

One article called the band "punk," although they claim to be inspired by the Riot Grrl bands of the '90s. And I just took a day to check that, because duh, "Riot" is their last name: of course that's an influence. (Although it might be different in Russian.) Still, punk was a solid Awakening movement: youth-oriented, anti-establishment - not too spiritual, unless you want to count nihilism that way. One big question, though, if this is right: what does a Russian Awakening imply, for Russia and for everyone else?

It's not too easy to tell, since (by my previously suggested timeline) the Awakening was during WWII - difficult to sort the 2T events from that. The previous one would have been around the time the serfs were freed, and the Crimean War. The latter would make sense: it started, as I recall, with a fight in the Holy Land involving the Orthodox church and other guardians of holy places there. And ends with them defending themselves against outside attackers, particularly in a number of sieges...

Bwian

"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" has been stuck in my head since Eric Idle performed it at the Olympic Games closing ceremony, so let's take a moment to look at 1979s "Life of Brian."

Released toward the end of the Awakening that saw at least two other alt-Jesus movies, Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. I'm not sure which of the three was really trying to be the most serious...

Based on what I now understand about Awakenings, would not be at all surprised to find that there really were Prophets lining the streets in early 1st century Judea (i.e. like the one Brian ends up "preaching" on.)

The Judean People's Front in-fighting is evidently based on similar political struggles in the 1970s UK left. But splintering into squabbling sections appears to be a common event in Awakenings - how many new churches showed up just in the first 20 years of the Reformation, after all.

Drinking

In the Mystery Science Theater version of the appallingly bad 1959 film "The Killer Shrews," Joel and the bots make prodigious fun of the characters' drinking habits. Every scene has one person or another pouring themselves a drink. According to one screenwriting book, this is an easy trap for a writer to fall into: It's a simple way to keep the character in the room and active without being a distraction. As of the mid-90s, though, the volume of drink in the film is so obsequious that it really was distracting on its own.

And then came "Mad Men," which suggested that drinking was so prevalent in the late '50s that it was a requirement that there be liquor carts in offices - and whiskey was a reasonable business expense. Once you start seeing this, it's obvious in many films of the era. "The Apartment" is soaked in alcohol, including a full-blown dancing-on-desktops office party. Alcoholism cautionary tale "The Lost Weekend" won Best Picture for 1945. And "The Misfits" has so much drinking from the start that one might think it was "Killer Shrews'" inspiration.

And it all makes more sense in the context of the then-recent Crisis. Veterans drank to handle their memories - and because during the war that was one of the few available pastimes. Actually, those same reasons could be attributed to ex-soldiers, ex-sailors, ex-defense workers, ex-Rosies, ex-mothers/wives/children, ex-anyone involved or alive during the War. And those born after would do it because, well, everyone else was.

And here we are today, with "mixologist" becoming a recognized career option, bars doing great business, brewpubs appearing everywhere, wineries in every vineyard, spirits artisanal (and otherwise) expanding selections. Drinking is a way to deal with our current Crisis for a few hours at a time. It has enough variety for anyone to find an elixir of choice, price points from lower to upper classes, and production requirements adaptable to the local economic situation. I won't predict that liquor carts will again be standard office furniture 30 years from now...although I won't be too surprised if they are.

Hymns

Presumably because of independence Day being this week, the exit hymn at church was "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." (They called it "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" - whatever. ) Since reading Strauss & Howe, though, I can't handle it in church. The righteous martial attitude is too much. Not that I dislike it, but that it's like "The War Prayer": far too truthful.

The American Civil War is called an anomaly by Strauss & Howe because it's the one place in American history where their theory skips a beat. There is not a proper Hero/Civic generation from that war. The explanation is that the war happened too soon, as the "debate" between pro- and anti-slavery Prophets (Transcendentalist generation) quickly moved out of the political sphere and into warfare. The Gilded (Reactive) instead ended up in the trenches, with leadership roles filled by the Prophets. The combination of our-cause-is-just leaders and get-it-done followers is one reason for an exceptionally deadly conflict - as indicated by what the Union was marching to. For comparison, let's consider songs associated with other conflicts.

American Revolution: Yankee Doodle, a cute little nothing about getting above your station and trying to make it work for you.
War of 1812: The Star Spangled Banner, a poem about a symbol of home and freedom and what has to be done to keep them.
World War I : Over There. Do you know the words besides the title? In any case, it's a song of pride, in doing the right thing because that's what you do.
World War II: Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, maybe, and swing music in general. "O How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," too: songs about the ubiquity of military life and the impact of the war. Still an enjoyable tune that is escapist in tone.

Note here that none of the above get sung in church, except rarely the national anthem.

And then there's John Browns Body... So we're starting here from a song celebrating an attempt to foment insurrection by a Prophet who was willing to use Any Means Necessary. Translated to a more general, well, hymn of violence, it hasn't lost any of it's fervor. The Lord is "trampling out," wielding a "terrible swift sword," and "His truth is marching on." No quarter asked nor given here, no question of choices to be made, no ditties about downtime, just zeal and righteous destruction.

Prophecies

The subtitle of The Fourth Turning is "An American Prophecy," and of course both Strauss and Howe are Boomers, the current Prophet generation. Part of their Prophecy is that a great and deadly War (Crisis) is coming soon, One That Will Remake the World. (And which, go figure, will be followed by a new Golden Age (High), which is what any good Prophecy should also have.)

Unlike other prophets, they do let us see behind the curtain to know how it is done. That we all can understand the future and the past better, now, is their greater gift. It's still amusing - and reassuring - that their theory of history predicts that, as Boomers/Prophets, their vision of the future would be apocalyptic - that is, they are exactly the people who would see history in the way that they do.

Gatsby

My concern about the new Gatsby movie is that it's going to be treated like a lament of the excesses of the 1920s, as if Fitzgerald knew about the Crash and isn't it clear that this was going to happen? The book came out in 1925, four years before Black
Monday, so it was popular even when most investors (including the public) were expecting the party to continue indefinitely.

As a Reactive - like Gatsby and Nick and Fitzgerald - I see "The Great Gatsby" as symbolic of aspiration, of trying your best and beyond, of wanting to be more. It's a tragedy that he fails, not that he tries.

And he doesn't fail because he's bad - no shock, that, him being a Reactive and all - but because he's taking on Society. Some positive aspects of society oppose him: Daisy is married with a child and it's Not Okay - but it's the negative that gets in his way and ultimately kills him. It's the upper-class jerk Daisy is married to who's seeing the lady and leads people to think Gatsby was driving, and who is unapologetic about the lie and its consequences.